Finding balance in this crazy world one bite at a time…

Hi everyone – I’m finally ready to reveal what I’ve been working on the past week. I decided to self host my blog and am now the proud owner of bitesofbalance.com . Please head over and check it out, bookmark it, add to your rss feed or throw rocks at it – whichever you prefer.I created a whole new look for it and am still working on some cool new stuff for it as well.

I have been MIA the past few days and I apologize. But big things are happening over here behind the scenes of Bites of Balance. So I’m trying to get those all in place and then I promise I’ll be back shortly. 🙂

Lucky me got called to go into jury duty today. I had the summons all week and they pick the last day of the week. It was my first time ever getting summoned so I had no idea what to expect going in today. I had to report at 8:45am was welcomed by a line down the entire block waiting to get in through the security check. Luckily it was quick and I was inside with a few minutes to spare.

I have appointments next week so I was nervous I’d get called in. Luckily the judged liked my excuse and excused from a trial that would have been two weeks long. Pheww. Crisis averted.

Good news is I met two of my goals this week – I woke up and did an early morning run and I did two strength trainings this week. Woo hoo! On that note I’m going to start my weekend and share some of my favorite pinterest finds this week. I really am obsessed with pinterest. Do they have a support group for that yet? I think I need it.

Are you a breakfast eater? I didn’t use to be. I wouldn’t eat until 12 or 1pm and lets just say my choices weren’t always the healthiest. I don’t know how I survived those dark days. I can’t imagine a day without a delicious breakfast now. I’d probably be passed out under my desk by 9am at the latest.

Breakfast really is my favorite meal of the day. But am I eating the right breakfast and getting the right nutrients? I saw this article and it’s made me track my meals the past few days on My Fitness Pal and see if my breakfast is up to par. Luckily my breakfasts meet all the recommendations (most days) but these were definitely some things I didn’t know. I was doing them without knowing.

Here are some guidelines for making sure your breakfast is the right choice to fuel your body and your brain properly in the early hours of the day.

You want some fats in your breakfast. Aim for about 17-15 g of HEALTHY fats in your breakfast like nut butters, avocado, etc.

Of course you want protein which has the staying power to keep those hunger pains at bay. Aim for 15-25 g of protein.

Some of these seemed high to me but I decided to test them for a few days. I’m no scientist over here so these are strictly my own observations. Days I hit all these guidelines I stayed full until lunch time and felt great. I tried one day of not meeting these goals and had just some cereal and was starving a few hours later and felt like I needed more than my own cup of coffee. Maybe these guidelines are on to something. 🙂

Egg scramble – Eggs (and egg whites) are easy to add just about anything too. I like to bulk mine up with some black beans, little bit of cheese, salsa and some sliced avocado. Eat with a piece of whole grain toast or wrap it up in a whole grain tortilla. YUM.

Peanut butter and strawberry roll up. This is about as easy as it gets. Use a whole grain tortilla and spread pb (or other nut butters) on it, slice strawberries and a handful of granola and roll it up.

Guess who woke up at 5:30 am and got a 3.1 mile run and 1.5 mile walk in before 7am? This girl right here. I finally dragged my lazy butt out of bed and completed a morning workout. I don’t understand why I fell off the morning workout routine. I literally use to go to the gym at 5am 4-5 times during the work week and complete my weekend workout by 9am. I use to love it SO much. I think it helped that my roommate would go with me and if I heard her stirring in the wee morning hours I felt a tad guilty and lazy if I didn’t get up.

It’s been tough going since then. I go long stretches with no morning workouts and then I do one and realize I still love it. But ultimately I fall off the wagon again. Failure over here. My goal is to do at least 2 morning workouts to start off and slowly build myself back up. So one down for this week and one more to go.

Last week I scored a sweet and cheap deal on a ton of delicious strawberries. I can eat berries like they are going out of style but it was tough for me to get through 2 pounds of them. They were getting close to being trashcan food. I HATE wasting perfectly good produce so I scrambled to find a recipe to salvage them. Luckily Skinny Taste always comes through for me. I used this recipe as my base and added chocolate chips – because I’m cool like that. I stretched my batch to 12 (instead of the 8) and they still came in just around 150 calories a piece. I promise you no one will no they are low fat – Darren was surprised (as he was shoving a second one in his mouth) that they were. Score!

So you know that running streak I talked about that I was doing. Well 7 days in I had to stop. My hip and knee really started to bother me on the 8th day. I’m really disappointed to stop it because it was something I really wanted to try but I’d rather be injury free.

I’m training for a 10k and will continue to run but gave myself a day off yesterday to see how it felt. I generally work out in some capacity 5-6 times a week but only run usually 3 of those days. I don’t think my body is ready for so many days in a row. Such is life. While I’m disappointed I know if I got injured I’d be angry at myself because I’d have to sit on the sidelines and do nothing for at least a few days.

Since my knee and hip decided the streak wasn’t in my future this time I have decided to make a few more goals for myself this month. I hope to complete all these with the three weeks left in the month.

June 2012 Goals

Run 4 miles – I want to run this with no walk breaks and feel good afterwards. I did 3.1 last weekend and know I could add another .90 if I push myself and keep trying.

Do cross training 2-3 times a week – I want to do strength and some other kinds of cardio at least 2-3 times a week to balance out my days running.

Continue training for my 10k and run at least 3 times per week.

Eat no meat at least 2 times a week – I have no problem getting my fruit and veggie quota a day but want to eat less meat.

Stay tuned to see if I meet these goals at the end of the month. For the rest of you continuing on the streak. Keep up the good work – I’m cheering you on!

About Me

Hi, I'm Jillian, a 27 year old living in San Francisco, CA. I have a passion for food, fitness and life. This blog follows me on my journey through life and how I find balance each day between working full time, leading a healthy lifestyle, and finding time to enjoy this crazy ride called life.